


Aftermath

by Miraculous_ninjabird



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kai needs help, M/M, Poor Life Choices, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:54:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29637714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miraculous_ninjabird/pseuds/Miraculous_ninjabird
Summary: Losing someone is never easy. Nobody ever said it was. But Lloyd can't help but feel that he's lost more than just Zane. In losing Zane, he's also losing Kai. Kai doesn't know how to cope and Lloyd doesn't know how to help but he's trying.Why can't Kai see he's just trying to help?
Relationships: Kai/Zane (background), Lloyd Garmadon & Kai
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely happy with how this one turned out but I spent too much time on it not to post. So hear you go. This is my first time really writing these topics so I was struggling with how I wanted it to go. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated!  
> Limited editing, sorry not sorry
> 
> Heed the tags on this one, and please let me know if I missed anything that needs tagging.

Lloyd swung down, landing on the roof with a soft thud. Carefully, he makes his way to the window, peering inside. He doesn’t bother to hide himself. He’d long since learned that nobody here would ever notice him. Scanning the room below him, his eyes landed on a hunched figure. He let out a sigh. Kai was here.

When Nya called earlier saying Kai had not come home the night before, and that he was still missing, Lloyd was worried but not surprised. Kai had been disappearing a lot lately. After the first few times, they’d realized at least he would be easy to find. It pained him to admit it, but he knew exactly where to look. Kai was always here.

Standing up, he gave himself a moment to collect his thoughts. No matter how many times he’s done this in the last six months, it never got any easier. Once he’d composed himself, he swung down from the roof and pushed open the door to the club.

It was the same as ever. Terrible music pumped through the building. Neon lights pulsated. The entire place smelled like sweat and booze. The bartender noticed him as he pushed his way through the crowd and waved him over. 

“Hey there Lloyd! Here to collect?” He greeted.

“Hey Alex. Why else would I be here?” Lloyd grimaced. He hated the fact that he was a well known figure.. He was on a first name basis with all the bartenders and bouncers here, for all the wrong reasons. 

“Thank God. I know the owners love him because he brings in so much money, but…” Alex gives Lloyd a knowing look.

“Is it bad?”

“Came in last night already off his rocker. Drank until he almost passed out. Went home with some red haired chick and was back as soon as the doors were open. We made the decision to cut him off about an hour ago. Hasn’t started any fights, thankfully. It’s a miracle he’s still functional. Or even alive.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Lloyd muttered angrily, pulling out his wallet. “How much for the outstanding tab?” Alex punched something into the register, and from the wince on his face he knew it couldn’t be good.

“Looks like he paid for yesterday already so you’re looking at...” Alex doesn’t even finish saying it. He just turns the screen. Lloyd recoils in shock.

“What?! Are you sure? Just for this today?”

“Looks like he’s been ordering the more expensive stuff this time around.” Alex looked apologetic. Lloyd let out another heavy sigh. He pulled out his card, offering it up. Good thing being the green ninja actually paid pretty well.

“Take it, before I change my mind. Add 25% for a tip. As an apology for having to deal with him.”

“You’re a good brother, Lloyd. Tell you what. I’ll give you my friends and family discount this time. I’ve seen the tabs. I don’t know how you afford it. Take this too. Kai really needs help.”

Alex hands him a business card, and Lloyd studies it briefly. Some kind of rehab it looks like. He adds it to his wallet along with the ever growing collection of receipts. Almost 2000 this month alone. They weren't poor by any stretch of the imagination, but even so this habit was beginning to bleed them dry. Wu had already cut off any alcohol related purchases. Which left him and Nya to scrabble to come up with ways to cover Kai’s expensive habit when he invariably forgot to pay. 

Wu kept telling them they were just encouraging him, but Lloyd didn’t really know what else he could do. They had been unsuccessful so far in convincing him to stop and the one and only time they’d tried to cut him off had been such a horrific experience he never wanted to repeat it again. Maybe Alex was right. It couldn’t hurt to look into it. Maybe tonight was the night to revisit that thought. 

Tab now settled, he pushed his way through the crowd towards the table Kai had been slumped at earlier. He doesn’t even look up as Lloyd approaches. His form is hunched, and even with the uneven lighting Lloyd can tell Kai looks terrible. The complete opposite of the Kai he was used to seeing. As angry as he is with this whole situation, it still hurts to see how much his brother was suffering. 

He rapped sharply on the table to get Kai’s attention. The fire ninja started, nearly jumping out of his seat. His head snapped up, eyes wild and unfocused. It takes him a moment to recognize Lloyd standing there, but once he does his gaze narrows.

“Whadda you want Lloyd?” He slurred.

“I’m here to drag your drunk ass back home. Nya is worried about you. We haven't seen you in days.”

“Fuck that. I’m not going. I’m just fine where I am. I can take care of myself.” Kai grumbles, reaching for the drink in front of him. Lloyd snatches it out of his reach, and Kai protests. He makes an attempt to grab it back, but in his drunken state it’s far too easy for Lloyd to keep it away.

“No. You don’t get to have this, and you don’t get to say that.” He hisses. “You can’t take care of yourself. All Nya and I have ever done since you picked up this habit is take care of you. Paying your tabs. Treating you’re injuries from that stupid fight ring. Dragging you home so you don’t end up dead in some back alleyway. There’s every chance you wouldn’t even be sitting here right now if you didn’t have us.”

“I don’t need your help! I don’t want it! Stop trying to fix my problems and get out of my life.” 

Lloyd feels something inside him break when he hears that.

“Yes you do! I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you would say that! I know you’re still grieving Zane but this is insanity. You are not okay. You need to stop this.” Lloyd insists. Kai’s gaze turns icy

“Don’t. Don’t you dare.” His tone holds a deadly warning but Lloyd presses onwards anyways. This topic should have been confronted long ago. 

“Because that’s what this is really about isn’t it. It’s all about Zane. How you think it should have been you. That maybe you could have saved him. Well guess what. He’s gone! He’s gone and he’s not coming back! And don’t think for one second that you’re the only one hurting here because I know. Believe me I know. And it hurts so much sometimes I can’t even breathe. So stop acting like it’s all about you. I’m still here. Nya is still here. We’re both hurting just as much, if not more so because you're so absorbed in your own grief you don’t even realize that we’re losing you too! I’ve already lost one brother, I don’t want to lose another! Zane wouldn’t want this. Please let us help you,” Lloyd’s chest is heaving by the time he finishes, all the emotions he’s been pushing down for the last few months bubbling over. 

“You have no right to say that. You have no idea what I’m going though! How dare you say you’re hurting more than me. I loved him. I loved him, Lloyd! Don’t go telling me what he would and wouldn’t want. I spend every waking  _ second  _ wondering. I can’t even think it hurts so much. You only make it worse! With all you’re ‘helping’ you just make it worse! At least here I can escape it all. But you and Nya won’t let me do that. It’s like you want me to suffer. So sorry, I don’t want your help,” Kai snaps back, surprisingly lucid for someone who's supposedly been drinking for two solid days. Lloyd growls a little, running a hand through his hair. He has to resist an overwhelming urge to scream. Things were devolving at an alarming rate and he has a brief flashback to the eerily similar screaming match Kai and Nya had the first time they tried to get Kai to stop drinking himself to death.

“I don’t even know why I’m here. Shouldn’t even have come tonight.” he mutters under his breath. He really hadn’t meant for Kai to hear, but it seems his hearing was better than Lloyd had given him credit for.

“If that's really what you think, maybe you should just leave then! I don’t care. Just leave me alone!” Kai erupts, chair clattering to the ground as he shoves himself to his feet. He swayed unsteadily for a moment before fixing Lloyd with a burning gaze. Something...something about that look just wasn’t right.

“Jay and Cole have already abandoned me. Zane too, really. It’s no surprise you want to do the same. Everyone leaves me in the end,” He snarls.

“That’s not what I meant Kai!” Lloyd drew in a breath, trying to calm himself. “Come on. Let’s just go home. Nya can deal with you there.” He reached out, placing a hand on Kai’s arm to lead him out of the bar.

“I said LEAVE ME ALONE, LLOYD!” Kai yanks back, eyes flaring an alarming red. Lloyd stumbled forward, caught off guard. Kai moves faster than he should have been able to, taking advantage of Lloyd’s momentary instability to aim a flaming blow at his face. It came so quickly he wasn’t able to dodge.

There was a sickening crunch as Kai’s fist made impact. Lloyd reels back, howling. His hand moves instinctively to clutch at his jaw as white hot pain explodes across his face. It  _ burned _ , in a way he’s never experienced before. 

Some part of him couldn’t comprehend it. The Kai he knew would never hurt him. Not in a million years. So why…? The larger part of him, though, was focused on the fact that Kai had just punched him. Punched him, definitely burned him, and judging by the excruciating pain, possibly broken his jaw. After everything he had done for Kai over the last six months, and this is the thanks he gets? What was wrong with him?

“Fine then. Have it your way. See how I care.” Lloyd manages to spit.

Kai takes a step back, gripping his own wrist. A horrified look blooms on his face as he looks between his hand and Lloyd’s face. 

“Wait, Lloyd. I didn’t-” He starts, but Lloyd cuts him off.

“Don’t,” Lloyd is surprised by the amount of venom in his voice. “I don’t want to hear it. You’ve done enough. Find your own way home.”

He turns and storms away. People hardly seem to have noticed the altercation, and he has to push his way through several crowds of people to get to the door. Curse Saturday nights and their tendency to draw people in. Vaguely he can hear Alex trying to call to him, but Lloyd is too focused on exiting the establishment to care.

It’s thankfully after he makes his way outside that the adrenaline begins to wear off. As it does, he becomes more and more aware of just how much his jaw actually hurts. Tears prick at the corner of his eyes. Gingerly he pulls his hand away from his face, and he attempts to open his mouth. An excruciating pain laces though his consciousness, and nausea swells up in his throat. Damn. Kai really had done a number on him, just with that one hit. 

Plopping down on the steps, Lloyd tries to remember what he’s supposed to do in this kind of situation. Medical attention...but what kind? He can’t seem to remember as his thoughts start to cloud. It’s hard to stay focused on his thoughts when his heart is racing and his whole body seems to be getting weaker the longer he sits. Staring blankly ahead, he wonders when his mouth got so dry.

Lloyd isn’t sure how long he sits on the steps of the building, but it must have been a worryingly long time because at some point Nya had shown up. She was beside herself, practically launching herself off her bike towards him. He’s aware that she is asking if he’s okay and demanding explanations, but he doesn’t respond. Words are hard when your face hurts as much as his. After another moment her hand drops onto his shoulder. 

“Lloyd. I need you to look at me. Answer me. Something. Are you okay? What happened to Kai?” 

“Kai…” he murmurs to her. 

Kai...Right! He had something important to tell her about Kai but he couldn’t quite remember what. Something had felt wrong, something he couldn’t put his finger on. Something…..his brain fails him. The fuzziness in his head begins to extend to the edges of his vision. Her voice once again reaches his ears.

“Call an ambulance I think he’s going into shock!”

It’s the last thing he remembers before the world goes black.

**************

Kai watches Lloyd make his way out of the bar. Objectively he feels horrible. Really, he hadn’t meant to hit Lloyd that hard. The kid would probably need to go to the hospital. It was necessary though. That’s what that girl Skylor had said. That if he’d ever wanted to see Zane again, he would have to do whatever it took to completely cut himself off from his life here. He hadn’t thought it would be so hard. Oh well. If Zane was still alive, he’d do whatever it took to get him back. No questions asked. Lloyd would forgive him once he knew why Kai had done it. He hopes.


End file.
